Trap-gun.



No. 721,980. PATENTED MAR.3', 1903..

' D. G. TOWNSEND.

TRAP GUN.

APPLIOATIOH FILED APR. 22, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES DAVID C. TOWNSEND,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF SOI-IULINE, ILLINOIS.

TRAP-GUN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 721,980, dated March 3, 1903.

Application filed April 22, 1902.

To aZZ whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that 1; DAVID C. TOWNSEND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Schuline, in the county of Randolph and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Trap-Guns; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates in general to that class of devices called animal-traps, and more particularly to such traps as are intended to kill the animal that springs the trap; and its object is to connect a tripping-treadle and a gun so that when the tripper is sprung it will cause the gun to fire its charge in line thereof. 7

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forming a trap-gun, hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim, reference being had-to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a trap-gun according to my invention attached to a pole. Fig. 2 is a detail view of a portion of the lock mechanism, and Fig. 3 is a face view of the tripper.

Numeral 5 represents the barrel of a gun, secured to a bed-piece 6 in some simple manner-such, for example, as by a barrel-receiver 7.

8 represents the hammer of the gun, which hammer may be fitted to reciprocate in bearings 9 and 10, longitudinally in line of the barrel 5, to strike a cartridge placed in the barrel for the purpose of exploding the cartridge.

11 represents aspiral spring acting between the bearing 10 and a shoulder on the hammer 8 to propel the hammer.

12 is a trigger pivoted at 13 to a stationary portion, such as the bearing 9, and engaging the hammer 8 by a notch 14 therein.

15 is the tripper, pivoted at 16 to the bedpiece 6 and connected by means of a rod 17 with the trigger 12. The tripper 15 may be shaped like the pan of a common steel trap for the convenience of holding bait for the trap; but in this case the pan portion is to be perforated, as shown at 18, Fig. 3, in line of the bore of the gun to permit the charge to pass through the pan, so as to hit whatever springs the pan or tripper.

Serial No. 104:,134. (No model.)

The operation is as follows: Let us suppose the object to be to shoot hawks or owls and for this purpose that the trap-gun is fastened to a pole near its top, with the gun pointing upward, and the pan or tripper 15 located above the muzzle of the gun, the gun being loaded as usual and being cocked by drawing down the hammer 8 until it is caught by the trigger 12. This pulls down upon the rod 16 and raises the pan portion of the tripper a little above a horizontal position. To attract hawks or owls it is only necessary to fasten a little bunch of feathers upon the pan and set up the pole, with this trap on it, in the barnyard or near a hay-stack where it maybe seen by such prowlers. The habit of prowling birds of prey is to pounce suddenly upon their game, and when the bait of this trap is mistaken for such game such pouncing upon it would bear down the tripper-pan, draw up on the rod 17, and pull the trigger 12 out of engagement with the hammer 8, which will then be driven by the spring 11 to strike the cartridge in the barrel 5, exploding it as usual and firing the contents of the gun-barrel up through the aperture in the tripperpan into the prowler that sprung the tripper. In some casessuoh, for example, as trapping bears, wolves, &c.'-it might be necessary to so connect the tripper and trigger that a pull upon the tripper in front of the gun will spring the trigger and fire the gun. To do that it would only be necessary to connect the rod 17 with the tripper at the pan side of its pivot 16. Then a piece of meat fastened upon the pan would attract the animal to put its head in line of the gun. In fact, it would be likely to be shot in the mouth when pulling at the bait.

The words forward of the gun as used in the claim are intended to describe the best position, in the judgment of the designer of one of these trap-guns, for killing any kind of game to locate the tripper-pan in order to bring a vital portion of the game into the line of fire at the time the game springs the trap.

This trap-gun is thought to possess material advantages over other traps in many respects, of which I describe two: first, because it is likely to kill the game at once instead of maiming it and permitting it to escape minus a leg, and, secondly, because the sound of IGO the gun will notify persons in the vicinity when the trap is sprung, so they may secure the game if it should not be instantly killed.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

In trap-guns, a gun-barrel; a receiver and bed-piece therefor; a hammer fitted to slide in line of the barrel in the bed-piece; a spring for the hammer; a bell-crank-shaped trigger pivoted near its angle and adapted to engage a notch in the hammer; a tripper in pan form located forward of the barrel and perforated DAVID C. TOWNSEND.

Witnesses:

W. F. CLENDENIN, A. L. WILSON. 

